1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for acquiring, extracting, modifying and displaying data. The present invention also relates to systems and methods for modular application of processes to extracted or acquired data, and automated transfer and deliver of data. More specifically, the present invention relates to a new system and method automating the assembly, processing and delivery of documents. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods with a modular approach to assembly, processing and delivery of documents.
2. Description of the Background Art
Many modern day interactions require the generation of responses to requests and the documentation of both the request and the response. For example, in virtually every business, a customer may send in a request for quotation on an item to be purchased, a service to be rendered or the cost of an insurance policy. A customer service representative, such as a salesperson, looks up information in an appropriate manner, formats a response to the customer and sends the response to the customer. Increasingly, the only source for the information requested by a customer, such as a price quotation, is a computer database. In this case, the computer must be searched, the data located, and delivered to the user. One particular problem with existing systems is that the interactions with the computer database by a human user are typically dictated by a programmer has written, and therefore lack flexibility because the program must be completely re-written to change an interaction or process.
In addition to the basic steps required to merely respond to a customer request for information, there are often a number of additional processes, approvals or other steps that must be performed in responding to such requests. For example, the process of getting base information from the computer system or database are typically supplemented with additional steps to enforce a company's policies, state or federal regulations, or other business rules the programmer has added to the process. For example, many customers receive special discounts based on volume, account payment status, length of relationship or other factors. Similarly, insurance rates may be based on previous losses suffered in insuring the prospective client, location of the client, size of the client, the type of business of the client, etc. Furthermore, many business allow a person quoting prices to a customer a specified amount of leeway in lowering or raising the price in response to their perception of the competitive situation on a quotation, to vary more than this amount may not be possible or require the approval of a supervisor in the management structure within the organization. The problem is further aggravated by the fact that there are thousands of such rules, and that they are constantly being changed due to changes in laws, company policies or other business conditions. Furthermore, the process is most problematic because the application of the rules to the extracted data is done by a person and is not automated.
A typical prior art procedure for providing documents or information in response to a request includes the following steps: A request is received from a customer for a quotation. A customer service agent looks up the data and applies the business rules to the quotation. The data is formatted for transmission to the customer; this may be done with a word processing system or another computer program. The quotation is printed for mailing or faxing, saved in a computer file for transmission as an email, or as appropriate for the required delivery. In the prior art, most all of these steps are done manually, and the only automated step is the search or look up for information in the database. This scenario has a number of shortcomings. First, the number of request for information that can be made are limited since customer service person must perform a number of the individual steps manually, and transition from moving from working with different systems. Second the business rules may not be applied or may applied or interpreted incorrectly due to human error or oversight.
One prior art approach to address these problems is creating database applications programs. These database application programs are special purpose computer programs that allow the easy generation of responses and the uniform application of business policies or rules. The business rules are built into the database applications programs. However, these database applications programs are inadequate because every time a business rules changes the program must be modified. This has caused large companies to employ large numbers of programmers whose sole task is the constant re-writing of database application programs in response to changes in the business rules. Second, if the underlying database containing the information changes the program also must be changed. Finally, if technology for delivering the document or response is changed, the program must be changed. Moreover, each change or modification frequently induces unintended side affects in the programs and therefore requires both expensive and extensive testing and re-testing.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and method for automating the assembly, processing and delivery of documents, in particular, in the context of receiving and responding to customer requests for information.